haunted hearts and homes
by ummidontknow
Summary: The Harmon's tried their best to frighten off all new inhabitants before it was too late, the most recent family choose to stay and ignore the paranormal activity around them. How long before their souls would too become a part of the murder house? tate/oc mainly, bad summary
1. Chapter 1

F

**First chapter here is very short, an introduction to the family basically. I don't own AHS**

My family and I have never been people who enjoyed large changes. But here I sat with my brother, in the back of a silent car, on my way to our new home. My mother had attempted to break the silence once or twice, reassuring me that this was going to be an exciting new chapter in our lives. I knew her intentions were good, but I had nothing to say to her, at least nothing positive. All I could think of was how I was never going to step foot in the house that held my childhood again, how I was never going to return to the places I knew by heart with the people who made those places so special. The worst part of it all was by far the relationships I had been forced to leave behind, all I could do to prevent myself from breaking down crying was to bite my lip and attempt to focus on the passing scenery.

When she first told me she was selling the house, I was furious. I had exploded, the horrible things I had said to my mother was a terrible way to react in itself, but understandable. What was out of hand for me to do was destroy a good portion of our belongings: starting with me simply knocking over a chair and ending with shattered glasses, shredded photos, broken mirrors, and hundreds of dollars in ruined furniture. To say I acted poorly would be an understatement. Eventually it ended with me sliding to the floor in tears, slamming my fist against the hardwood. And what did I get out of my little hissy fit? Nothing but a broken hand and a strained relationship with my mother.

I understand why she felt we had to move, but my emotions always get the best of me. She is simply trying to hold her family together as well as get away from the things that hurt her, and my little fit didn't help the situation at all. Things had been stressful around the house for some time, it was clear that our dad had been becoming increasingly depressed. Mom refused to see it as it was: a severe mood disorder. She convinced herself it was just a bit of sadness that was easily fixable by strong will. This proved to be a terrible plan when dad decided to drive his car into a large tree at 120 miles per hour. Mom said it must have been an accident despite the evidence that it was not. Due to his passing, she decided to move us to Los Angeles where there was plenty of happiness-bringing sun mom could soak up, to help her forget about her late husband.

Seeing all the houses we passed as we got closer to our destination made me grow more and more discouraged, the houses, although well kept, appeared to have no personality to them. I closed my eyes, letting my body relax for a minute before my mother spoke, "we're here!" I opened my eyes to see an extremely large brick house with many windows. I couldn't believe my mother thought the three of us needed such a large house, and even more unbelievable was the idea of how much this house must have cost. We were accustomed to living in larger homes since dad had at one point been a part of the NFL, but the money saved from his glory days wasn't an endless pit, but I suppose with his death mom got enough money to be unconcerned with the cost of such a large home.

"How much did this cost?"

"There are 6 bedrooms, and 5 bathrooms, and such a plush yard! It will be perfect for us" my mother responded, ignoring my question.

"That's not what I asked" My mother walked up to the front door, ignoring me completely.

"If there really are 6 bedrooms, I get two" my brother said, I ignored him just like my mother had me.

If there is one thing we all have in common in my family, it is our outstanding ability to ignore the people and events happening around us.

The permanent residents of the house stirred at the realization of new arrivals. It wasn't surprising to see another family moving in, thus far the Harmon's had done a decent job at keeping families coming and going. It was a shame how many people had uprooted their lives to move in, only to leave. Some of the ghosts couldn't wait to terrorize the new in habitants for fun, and knowing this fact gave the more pure ghosts in the home a reason to strike fear immediately in hopes of vacating the house once more. Some left with a paranoia of the supernatural haunting them for life, but at least it was better than staying in a place that took away pieces of people until only the darkest parts remained.


	2. Chapter 2

Ronnie dropped the suitcase he had been rolling across the hardwood onto the floor of one of the many rooms, deciding that it would be his. The room was nearly empty, as expected, except for the dresser and chalkboard that the previous owners had left. Where was he supposed to sleep tonight? On the hardwood? At least he got the room with the most outlets which would come in handy for the endless days he planned to stay in his room surrounded by technology.

He looked back and forth between the dresser and chalk board already planning to throw them out on the curb. With nothing better to do he started taking out the drawers and carrying them down the steps, passing his sister on the way, rolling his eyes at her as she squatted down to take pictures of the old house. He figured that she probably hadn't left the first floor yet and wouldn't get around to deciding on a room until last minute because of her obsession with documenting everything via photos. Maybe he would get to have a second room after all if she continued to be too focused on her camera to care about where she would be staying.

Emily glanced at her brother, waiting for him to pass by before sneaking a picture of him walking out the door. The two siblings didn't talk much, but she figured that if they bonded one day he might want to see himself and how he's aged throughout the years. Or maybe he would just do what he does now and roll his eyes, walking away as if it was the strangest thing in the world to want to keep something to remind herself of life events. This move wasn't a change that she wanted, but taking pictures of the new experience would help her to feel less out of place, would help her find the beauty in the change rather than picking a room and staying in it without noticing anything else like her brother inevitably would. Emily continued to learn the layout of the house, stopping to take pictures of the light hitting the stain glass and the details of the woodwork. Opening a door she paused, looking into the darkness of the basement, the beauty of the rest of the house didn't seem to carry down into the lower levels. She took a few steps down, using the light from her camera to guide her way, once at the bottom she found a string, tugging it to turn on the lightbulb above she looked around at the mostly empty basement.

Ronnie was not amused, walking back into his room he read the message that was left on the chalkboard, "Leave now". His sister had barely said anything to him since she found out they were moving and now she wants to play dumb games? He wiped off the message and walked towards his door to see if he could find her and confront her, but was stopped short as something hit the back of his head and fell to the ground. Looking down he saw a small piece of chalk, he turned around swiftly, looking in every corner of the room for something that would suggest that his sister was in there with him. The only place to hide would be the closet and it was wide open. Ronnie's heart rate quickened as he realized that something was going on that he couldn't explain. He went for the door again only to have it slam shut as he ran towards it.

Vanessa always loved the idea of starting from scratch; unlike her children she enjoyed new places and leaving behind a part of her life. She had always been that way, growing up she moved around a lot and when she got old enough she made sure to travel, even after getting married she found time to go to new towns just to see how they were different or the same from where she'd been before. This change was a little different though, this time she was leaving behind a part of her that she never wanted to change, her husband. After his death, there was nothing to tie her to the same town. Of course she felt bad that her children were upset, but it's good for young people to understand that things don't stay the same forever and if she had stayed in that house where everything sat like a tomb for her lover she would have lost her mind. Walking around the house she had already planned how she would arrange the furniture when it arrived and what sections of the house to spice up with different wall papers or art. One of the things should couldn't picture is what to put over the fireplace. At the old home it had been framed jerseys and awards her husband had brought home showcasing his achievements. That is definitely not what she wanted here. She wanted this house to be perfect, to give off nothing but happiness and style.

A particular painting came to mind, curious as to if it arrived yet she went to go search the pile of objects left in the living room only to come face to face with a woman. Cursing she stumbled back, she opened her mouth to demand the woman to explain herself or get the hell out but instead paused to stare at the degree to which the woman's face had been mangled by burns. There was a tense silence between the two as they stood in front of one another. A popping sound went off behind Vanessa, making her feel like her heart was going to explode out of her chest with shock. Vanessa turned to see the fireplace lit with wild flames that were licking at the sides of the surrounding wall, creeping upward and outward until the whole room was ablaze. Screaming Vanessa fell back and crawled towards the exit, only stopping to cough as smoke filled her lungs. Close to getting out a family appeared, all burnt badly, stopping her from escaping.

Emily wandered through the basement, thinking how strange the layout was and how there was a serious lack of lighting options. Deciding a flashlight would be best to have if she was going to look around any further she went back towards the staircase, just as she reached them the shattering of glass fell around her as the hissing lightbulb exploded around her. Before she even had time to take in what had happened the sound of her mother's scream drew in her attention. Emily immediately bolted up the stairs to the open door, as she reached the top the door flew shut, hitting her violently in the face, causing her to tumble back down the steps. She laid motionless at the bottom, her nose and the side of her head bleeding from the impacts.


	3. Chapter 3

Ronnie yanked on his door handle, trying to get out, the door refusing to budge even though it was clearly unlocked. The chalkboard flew across the room, sending Ronnie further into a state of panic. He hadn't cried in years but he felt his vision blurring as tears of fear rimmed his eyes as he fell to the floor, curled up against the door as he waited for something to happen. All felt silent and still, leaving Ronnie to believe that everything was over. He stood up, listening carefully. Hs ears were straining for any sound, which left him to be thrown off by the startling scream he heard. He turned to the door, pulling with no signs of prying it open. Ronnie stepped back in a rush of adrenaline to get to his mom and kicked the door as hard as he could over and over again until it finally started to slowly snap off the hinges. Slipping through the open space created he ran for the staircase, almost tripping in his rush.

Vanessa has always loved young children, before they got older and disrespectful. Never in her life has she every thought she would be terrified of two young girls. But here she was, shaking violently, feeling a bit of warmth on her leg as she couldn't contain her bowels. Two girls and a woman stood before her, hair mostly gone along with their flesh, other than stray bits stuck tightly to the bone. They were clearly burned past the point of third degree, the woman's left eye glistening white as she stared down at Vanessa. Although Vanessa was sure the woman couldn't see out of that eye, she felt as if her soul was being strip searched, as if the fire purified her eye and allowed for it to see past that people pretended to be. The woman lifted her arm and pointed to the front door before the three of them disappeared along with all signs of fire ever overtaking the room.

Vanessa sat there, stunned at what had just happened. She didn't have time to fully allow her emotions to process and react before Ronnie came bursting into the room and kneeling by her. "Mom, what happened? I couldn't get out of my room and I heard you scream and," Ronnie paused, unable to organize his frantic thoughts, wanting to consul his mom but stuck in a state of fear from his own encounter with the supernatural. He caught his breath and signed out a mangled statement, "Jesus fuck, why did we move here." He didn't expect a response, it wasn't a question; it was all that he could muster, unsure of what else to think.

Emily felt a cool sensation on her face, causing her to open her eyes, light barely existing as it peaked in from I distant basement door leading outside. She moved to push herself up only to hiss in pain as her palms came in contact with the glass that had scattered across the floor when the light had exploded. The sound of rustling in the darkness of the basement caused Emily to pause, sitting in silence. Adrenaline started to slowly move through her, causing the silence to be painful as her ears strained to listen for movement. The darkness had hat effect on her sometimes, her imagination would run wild and her body would shift into instinct mode. So she sat still, like a herbivore that stops eating to poke its head up, on edge and ready to bolt at any second if deemed necessary. She stood, stepping back towards the staircase, quickly reaching into her pocket for her phone, using the flashlight to light her way. After a few steps she paused, hearing a snarling noise from behind her. Turning her light back she wanted to puke, a small creature hunched over where she had just laid, licking the blood from the shards of glass that had penetrated her palm, Its sharp, inhuman teeth sowing as it opened its mouth at her, black eyes shifting to her. She wasted no time bolting up the last few steps, throwing herself out the door before the creature could reach her.


	4. Chapter 4

Emily stumbled down the hall in a rush, looking for her mom, expecting the worst after hearing the screams she had let out. Instead she found her mom sitting with her brother, both sitting quietly, staring into nothing. They slowly looked up at her, the notion causing Emily to pause before speaking, their silent state putting her on edge. She wasn't sure where to start.

"Mom, are you okay?…" she paused, waiting for a response as she mulled over how to word what she saw in the basement.

"Fine, honey." Vanessa stood, wobbly at first before confidence came back to her posture.

"Mom there's a monster in the basement, it tried to drink my blood" Emily felt like she was four again. Her mother looked her over, seizing her up.

"Wash your hands Emily, blood is difficult to get out of clothing; we always had to send your fathers jerseys to the cleaner to get out the more settled stains"

Emily looked to Ronnie who shared the same expression, one that was questioning the current mental state of their mother.

Ronnie tried, "We can't move in here mom"

Vanessa looked to the doorway where the family on fire once stood, the house felt eerily quiet now after all the commotion. Ronnie touched her wrist, hoping to gain her attention. Hey voice remains level, "It's a beautiful house Ronald, Emily did you choose your room yet?"

Emily had to contain her screech of disbelief, "there is a literal monster in the basement, can't you listen for once?"

"Unless you want to buy a room in another house with your own money I suggest you choose a room here before I assign you one" With that Vanessa walked to the steps, ready to lay down for sleep on the hardwood floors without washing away the accident she had while struck with fear.

Ronnie tried one more time before she disappeared up the steps, "We can't sleep on the floor, let's get a hotel room for tonight!" She didn't even glance his way as she ended the conversation, "Goodnight children."

Emily looked at Ronnie, "were going to die here aren't we?" it was the first time in a while that Emily looked for shelter from her family, her older brother who was no longer here was the only one she felt close too.

"If she keeps being a nut job ya we are." At least he was honest. He looked at the floor where Vanessa had been then at Emily before following his mother's lead, "I'm not cleaning that up."

Emily felt like she would never fall asleep. The lack of comfort aside, every slight noise the house made caused her eyes to shoot open every time they started to droop. Sleep only came when she put headphones in and let the music block out the sounds around her, shushing her paranoia. Unknown to her, the spirits that frightened her family today were the same ones watching over them tonight. Knowing that the more malicious spirits of the house wouldn't face them, the Harmon's divided themselves, each taking watch over the new residents. Their presence kept Tate and Hayden at bay, but if they couldn't convince the mother to leave there was a silent fear among the family that they wouldn't be able to protect the new comers forever. Even now during the first night the feeling of hostility leaked out from the walls of the house.

Tate and Hayden stood, tucked away deep into the house. They wanted to show the new comers real fear, fear that drives you to the brink of sanity. They wanted to hurt these people because they had what Tate and Hayden had lost: their family and their life. The Harmon's had teamed up with some of the more pure residents of the house to keep buyers from staying, so far keeping them all safe from darker grasps. Even after all these years Tate didn't dare to fight the Harmon's. As much as he resented them, he wished he could be with them or one of them at least. Violet still sent him away whenever he was noticed, it hurt him more than anything else so he had learned to avoid them all, not wanting to sink into nothingness at the hands of his past lover. But as much as they had tried to keep these people safe, this family seemed unpersuaded much to the Harmons displeasure, at least the mother did. The children were easy enough to target. The kinder spirits in the house were too weak to harm the family enough to send them packing. Tate could cause them enough pain to reconsider living in the state let alone the house, and he'd be more than willing to do so. Not to save the family or to please his ex, but because the suffering of others would fill him more than he could express. Hayden fed off his rage, happy to have someone more bitter than she was about losing her life. Hayden wanted to aid Tate in destroying others, but not for the same reasons. She wanted revenge against the Harmons for treating her like trash, and since she could no longer cause them injury the new residents would become a game to her, one she wanted to win. Without these everlasting grudges she would have nothing, just like Tate, so she clung to the idea of having her sadness and anger be felt by everyone around her, living or dead.


	5. Chapter 5

Waking up the next morning Emily was surprised to find the house so full of life, the workers from the moving company where walking in and out of the house, smoothly making their way around each tight corner. Vanessa stood outside, making note of everything that had arrived and giving directions about where she wanted it. She was wasting no time making the house perfect. She wanted the house to reflect a new life, she wanted to fill every crevice with a happy memory and keep a light on every dark shadow. Although productive, Emily's mother's form of coping wasn't the path they should be taking. Putting a band-aid on a gushing, infected wound didn't do much more than make the victim feel better, if that. Thats what decorating was for Vanessa right now, it was a way to make her feel like she was healing her broken family, like she was in control, even though the past nights events should have been a clear indication that covering up the ugly wasn't going to be enough.

Emily saw her mother, standing proudly once again and knew that trying to convince her to stop the workers, tell them to reload the trucks and get the hell out of there was pointless. She tried anyways, only to receive the result she predicted. An angry, dismissive response that left Emily with a feeling of hurt and dread. She felt like she was watching her mom sign their lives away without a second thought. Before moving here Emily would have laughed at the idea of moving out of a house because of ghosts, but seeing was believing. She saw that she was going to die, that her family was going to die. If last night was just a welcoming committee she was terrified of what the house warming party would turn out to be.

"This is all your fault." Her brothers voice came as a surprise to her, she was so deep in thought that she hadn't noticed him come up behind her. She wanted to argue with him, to point out that she was the most adamant about not moving here and that she was the one who had spent the morning trying to convince her mom that they needed to leave.

She couldn't muster up the words though, because deep down she felt the same. Her father being depressed didn't fall on her, but it was her actions that put him over the edge. His death lead to the family moving, and her choices lead to his death. Emily was trying to fix it in hopes of one day having a family again, but nothing had ever felt like a more lost cause.

In a last ditch effort to convince her mom to leave, Emily made her way back to the basement. Looking down she froze with fear, remembering the vicious screech the creature had made. She let out the breath she was holding and went down slowly, each step leaving her legs to wobble more. She wasn't sure what would happen. Maybe she would get hurt and her mom might care enough to have them move, or maybe the workers would see that the house was haunted and call the ghost busters, or even child services. Standing at the bottom of the stairs Emily strained to hear noises outside of her heartbeat and the thud of footsteps moving upstairs. After several minutes though nothing happened. Call it bravery, stupidity, or an attempt at martyrdom she walked into the darkness, slowly creeping into the deepest corners of the basement. Each step away fro the light of the stairs caused a feeling of bile to rise up in Emily's chest, making it harder to breath. After entering complete darkness Emily sat on the ground, eyes straining to see anything in the pitch blackness. After 20 minutes Emily stood up and shakily made her way back through the cellar, other than a near panic attack, nothing happened.

The tension that built up in Emily's chest was painful. Itching to get out of the basement Emily turned the corner to the staircase and screamed. Her fear escaping like a popped balloon. After a moment she breathed and bended over, hands on knees. Standing on the stairs was a girl of similar age, long brown hair flowing over her shoulders, pale skin and dark eyes that held a bit of amusement as an eyebrow lifted upwards.

"That's one way to say hello" sarcasm dripped off the girls voice.

"You scared the fucking Christ out of me." Emily looked exasperated.

In spite of the mood the stranger smirked, clearly appreciating her choice of words. "I live close by, came to give my greetings. Heard there were other teens moving in."

"How did you know I was down here?" Emily hadn't turned the light on or told her family where she was going.

"One of the workers saw you. Kinda strange to be down here in the dark."

Emily wasn't in the state of mind to be civil, "Yeah well, kinda strange to wander down here without turning on the light just to say hi to the new neighbor."

The girl continued to look pleased with Emily's responses, "I'm Violet."

Emily eyed the girl up for a moment, "Emily."

They stood in silence for a minute, Violet was never good at making friends, and it was even harder when you had to pretend you weren't dead for years. Even though it wasn't fair to make shallow assumptions, Violet didn't know if they would get along. Looking at the new resident teen's sleep clothing it didn't seem like she would be anything other than peppy or frightened. She wore a baggy spaghetti strapped tank top with small white paw prints going up the side and mini sleep shorts with cartoon panda bears. Violet felt like a complete opposite with her dark, unpatterned clothing. Even their appearances were nearly opposite. Emily had a medium brown complexion with golden eyes that felt like they could burn through you while Violet was glowingly pale with eyes that sucked you in like black holes. Violets natural hair fell around her back like a sheet in contrast to Emily's pink-dyed hair that bounced around her face and ended at her collarbone.

"So, you came over to stare at me or… what?" Emily broke the silence that Violet hadn't realized had gone on so long.

"Was curious who was moving in is all."

"Well here we are, " Emily mumbled the last bit before going to walk past the quiet girl, "Don't expect us long."

Violet didn't have to question what she meant, she knew she wasn't supposed to hear her and knew there was nothing soothing to say. Well, other than blurting out that her and her ghost family were going to try to protect them, but that wasn't exactly reassuring either. Following Emily to the porch they sat on the ledge of the cement railing.

Violet tried again at becoming her friend, "Moms the type to just blow you off huh?"

Emily's expression turned into defensive, not used to acquittance's, let alone people who have never met her, pointing out family flaws.

"My mom used to be like that too, was oblivious to my dad cheating on her and even after she let him try to make it up."

"Did it work out in the end or did they just stay in the same cycle?" Emily asked, if violet was going to unexpectedly blurt out family drama Emily wasn't going to hold back from asking personal questions.

"Yeah, I guess it did work out. They love each other, had a baby. Think they'll be together forever." The joke of it was that they really would be, if one good thing came out of the catastrophe that was moving to this house, it did ultimately make her parents work together.

"Forever is a long time."

Violet laughed at the irony of a living person telling a trapped ghost about forevers, "Tell me about it."


End file.
